The Koyanagi Family Donation

The Art Gallery of Burlington is proud to present The Koyanagi Family Donation in memory and honour of Burlingtonian James Koyanagi

James Koyanagi, a Japanese Canadian resident of Burlington, lived for a decade in Tokyo during the 1960’s. Aware that modern technology was changing the traditional Japanese way of life, he began to collect the traditional ceramics made by village potters, known as Mingei pottery. In the process he met and collected the work of the finest ceramists working in this tradition. These artists would go on to become National Living Treasures – Hamada, Shimaoka, and Kawai. With Koyanagi’s death, his family donated an outstanding selection of these treasures to the AGB’s Permanent Collection which will be shown with a selection of Japanese prints and Koyanagi’s own photographs.

The AGB is Burlington’s public art gallery and community art centre. We are a place of intersection where creators, cultures, and communities meet and share in the wealth of human creativity.

We acknowledge that the land where we are located is part of the ancient Dish With One Spoon Treaty and also the Brant Tract Purchase, Treaty No. 3 3/4 of 1795, 1797, and 2010, and we are grateful to the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation and the Six Nations of the Grand River for sharing this territory with us.